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www.papakuracourier.co.nz
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Courage under fire
By HINERANGI VAIMOSO
Top recognition: New Zealand Bravery Medal recipient James Christie with his proud students from Room 10 at Alfriston Primary School.
Photo: HINERANGI VAIMOSO
A NEW ZEALAND BRAVERY MEDAL FOR SAVING HIS FRIEND ON MT RUAPEHU
'
It was freezing anyway and what was I going to do? Sit
there through the night watching him die? No way.
'
James Christie
JAMES CHRISTIE is
humbled when he looks at the
list of those receiving a New
Zealand Bravery Medal,
especially since his name is
among them.
The Alfriston Primary
School teacher learned last
week that he's being awarded
the medal for actions on Sept-
ember 25, 2007, that saved
the life of a friend.
Whether or not to go and
get help was a no brainer,''
Mr Christie says.
He was stuck and there
was only one thing we could
do.''
Mr Christie, then 21, had
been hiking on Mt Ruapehu
with university classmate
William Pike.
They were asleep in the
Dome Shelter near the sum-
mit of the mountain when it
erupted around 8.30pm.
A lahar of boulders, debris,
mud and rocks smashed
through the cabin.
Mr Christie was able to
free himself but Mr Pike was
buried up to the waist with a
compound fracture to his
lower right leg.
Mr Christie, dressed only
in his thermals, did his best
to dig Mr Pike out.
He tried using a shovel and
an ice pick when his hands
became too frozen to con-
tinue, all the while trying to
keep his friend conscious.
Able to free only Mr Pike's
left leg and with the moun-
tain still pelting the shelter
with rocks, Mr Christie
decided to leave and get help.
It was freezing anyway
and what was I going to do?
Sit there through the night
watching him die? No way.''
His friend asked him to tell
his family and parents
that he loved them.
And I just said he can tell
them himself because I
hadn't registered that this
could have been it.''
Mr Christie tied a tourni-
quet around his friend's
broken leg, and left wearing
only wet thermals, a wet
jacket, boots and no socks.
He spent 40 minutes run-
ning down the mountain,
avoiding pot holes created by
rocks blown from the crater,
and finally came across a
snowcat driver who contacted
emergency services.
Rescuers reached the hut
two-and-a-half hours after
the eruption.
Mr Pike was transferred to
Iwikau Medical Centre, then
flown by rescue helicopter to
Taumarunui Hospital and on
to Waikato Hospital.
Seconds from death, his
temperature had dropped
dangerously low and doctors
feared he'd suffer major brain
damage if he lived.
Today, minus a leg but
otherwise recovered, Mr Pike
is a teacher too.
The friends still go on out-
door
excursions like
kayaking, something Mr Pike
can manage with his right leg
amputated.
Once his friend's up to it,
Mr Christie says they're plan-
ning to climb to the top of Mt
Ruapehu.
Getting an award for what
seemed just common sense''
feels strange, he says.
This was just going to be a
good story we told a few
mates over a beer.
I definitely wasn't
expecting all of this palaver
but it does feel good.''
Mr Christie is thankful to
his dad and Mr Pike's parents
who nominated him for the
award.
And to the rescue team
who ensured he and his
friend would live to tell the
tale.